Was Tomb Raider Ever Good?

 

Obscenely late to the party once again thanks to my insanely large backlog, I picked up a cheap copy of the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot on Steam and finally started playing it not too long ago.  It's a painful "OK" game, competently made and fun to fiddle about with for 30 minutes to an hour at a time but nothing special.  It's the gaming equivalent of eating a piece of plain bread or a bowl of plain, unseasoned rice with no side dish.  Not terrible enough to really complain about but not something you'd want to consume regularly.

The one thing that keeps going through my mind as I'm playing it is "why does this exist? we already have Uncharted".  Everything that set Tomb Raider apart back in the day when Lara had a lot more polygons and significantly stiffer movement is completely gone in favor of making it just Uncharted if it was a semi open-world game.  The problem with it being so similar to Uncharted is that it sucks at being Uncharted and it sucks at being a semi open world game.  The Japanese island that Lara runs around on in this game just isn't an interesting location and I find myself sort of glazing over as I'm playing.  The only real interesting thing about the game is how much effort went into the animations for Lara getting beaten up and killed and quite frankly I don't get that much enjoyment from watching game over screens and Saw-Lite levels of gore.

But here's the spicy hot take from the title, was Tomb Raider ever really good? 

I know there are plenty of people that claim to like it, it was a hugely popular franchise for a while and triangular tittied Lara Croft was and still is a video game icon but the games are just So. Fucking. Boring. I remember when I first got my Sega Saturn that had a playable demo of the first Tomb Raider game and I fired that thing up and prompty put it down.  At first I chalked it up just to being too young to "get" it, so when I was older I gave the classic Tomb Raider games another shot and gave up a few stages deep because I was so painfully bored.  The sequels I also gave a fair shake too but didn't fair any better and then as the series moved to the PS2 I feel everyone came to their senses with Angel of Darkness because I've never seen anyone defend that game. 

Then the reboot comes along with is bombastic cinematics and modern gameplay but still sufferes from being just painfully fucking boring.  Only this time instead of stiff movement and boring levels it's generic gunplay and boring semi-open environments I'm expected to scour for trinkets.  At time of writing this post I stand by the idea that Tomb Raider is, by far, one of the most boring franchises to ever exist in the history of the medium.

Granted I've not finished Tomb Raider 2013 and what it does have going over the original games is that I do feel at least somewhat motivated to at least get to the end, which is a huge step up from the original games.  Also I'm not sure how far into 2013 I am, I'm trying to fix a fuse box on a radio tower or some shit and maybe in a few hours more the game will get really good and my opinion will completely change.  The other thing I'm willing to consider is that maybe I'll have a lot more fun with the later games in the reboot series, Shadow and Rise of the Tomb Raider.  Maybe I'll come back after playing those games and have a completely differernt opinion and gush endlessly about what a masterpiece of gaming they are....

But I fucking doubt it

2019 Vlog: F.3.A.R and Lucky Bags

This ones a bit short and shit because of the hectic New Years Holiday schedule I'm on right now but that ends tomorrow so I'll have much more time to work on the next ones.  Enjoy my stupid purchases!

Expect to see these every sunday

The Sega Saturn Chalenge Is Coming

One thing you may not know about me is that I LOVE the Sega Saturn, it's easily one of my favorite systems.  Hell, the first few playthroughs for YouTube I did were of 3 Dirty Dwarfs and Panzer Dragoon Saga

So I'm currently amassing a large collection of Saturn games with the intention to stream ALL of them, or at least all the games in the Saturn library that aren't sports games.  The point of all this being 1. I get to explore a library of games from a system that had a TON of Japanese exclusives and 2. To try and introduce more people to the absolute magic that is the Sega Saturn.  A lot of the games on the system are RPGs so if I actually ever finish or not before I die is another story but I'm sure as hell going to try

If you are familiar with the Sega Saturn and are interested to see a game, feel free to donate to charity to have it bumped up the priority list although I'm only going to finish each game once so don't just donate for NiGHTS 20 times and expect me to play nothing but that.

It's still going to take a while to set up but I'm hoping to get the ball rolling on this by September so go subscribe to the Twitch channel in the meantime or check out the two Saturn game playthroughs I did on the YouTube channel

The March Retro Haul

February Retro Haul

The Turning Point

So a few days ago I was emailed by a website called Man Crates asking me to write a post for them.  At first I was a little skeptical because spam emails aren't exactly uncommon to my inbox but after a quick Google search it turned out these guys were on the level.

Before I get into the post itself let me just tell you a little bit about Man Crates because the idea behind what they do is pretty cool.  Man Crates sells wooden crates of various goods that range from video games to stuff in order to prepare yourself for a zombie outbreak.  However when you order from Man Crates they don't just send you a wooden box with the stuff in it, oh no.  They send you an actual wooden crate and a crowbar so that you can go Gordon Freeman when you break that shit open.  It's a cool concept and I think they would make a really good present for someone.

What Man Crates asked me to write was the gaming experience that hooked me into the hobby and made me a life long enthusiast.  This was easy for me, I've kind of already done it once a long LONG time ago back when Identity Gaming first started.  The game that really grabbed me and turned me into an enthusiast is Panzer Dragoon Saga for the Sega Saturn.

Before I received my Sega Saturn I enjoyed playing video games quite a lot.  However almost every game I played during my early youth was some kind of side scrolling platform game.  I had experimented with other genres such as adventure games but I accidentally picked shitty ones like Super Hydlide and it left a bad taste in my mouth.  I don't remember if Super Hydlide was actually all that shitty but I was too young and stupid at the time to have ANY idea what the hell was going on with that game.

Then my father goes and buys me a Sega Saturn and the thing blew my goddamn mind.  The games being in 3D was pretty cool but the thing that really excited me about the system was the number of arcade ports that were available.  I used to love playing games like Fighting Vipers and The House of the Dead at the arcade and now I had this chance to play those titles as much as I wanted and I didn't have to beg my mother for £1 coins all the damn time, it was great.

Then on one birthday I received Panzer Dragoon Saga and my god this game changed my view on EVERYTHING.  Before this, gaming was always something I did for an hour or two at a time before going to find something else to do but Panzer Dragoon had me locked in front of the TV for god knows how long.  This game not only affected my opinion on gaming but had some pretty drastic effects on my life too.

In terms of how it influenced my gaming, Panzer Dragoon Saga was the point in which I realised that games could be so much more than just a little side attraction for me.  They could have interesting stories and immersive worlds and characters that you become genuinely attached to sometimes.  Hell, I remember my first time playing where the main character gets kidnapped and tortured and I had to leave the room because that scene upset me so damn much.

Not only did it have a good story and interesting characters but it also had really fun game play.  It's an RPG with an active time battle system but it was also very strategic and fast paced.  I wasn't just mashing an attack button in order to win, I actually had to stop and think about my gauges, what kind of attack I was going to use, positioning, my dragon type, location of weak spots and all sorts of stuff.  There was so much depth and I loved it.

Thanks to Panzer Dragoon Saga I started exploring other games and other genres looking for equally challenging titles with the same or similar amounts of depth as that and luckily there was a lot on offer.  I was always looking for something to challenge myself after that point.  While I never lost interest in the more simple games Panzer Dragoon taught me not to give up so quickly on the harder stuff like I did with Hydlide.

But Panzer Dragoon Saga also had massive effects on my real life.  The whole game is voiced entirely in Japanese with English subtitles and at that young age I thought the voice acting was the coolest thing ever.  It sparked my interest in Japan and thanks to that I am where I am today.  At school I was never sure what I wanted to study but thinking back to those times in front of my Saturn made me think I wanted to pursue a degree in Japanese language.  I came to realise that there were so many games that never came to the UK and I really wanted to be able to play them.  Of course, I was interested in other stuff like the language itself and the culture of the country but without that initial inspiration from my favourite video game I might have done something very different.

So there you have it, that was the turning point for me however I'm not quite done there. I was also asked to write about what kind of stuff I'd like in a personalized nostalgia crate from the aforementioned Man Crates.

Well considering that I live in Japan some kind of import game crate would be a pretty good idea I think.  A few Famicom/Super Famicom titles mixed along side pot noodles, microwave curry rice and a few cans of melon soda.  For me that sounds like a pretty good night in and if I got to start that off by opening that stuff up with a goddamn crowbar would be the icing on the cake.   

Let's wrap things up with some links.  Don't forget to check out Man Crates

http://www.mancrates.com/

and the second YouTube play through for YouTube I ever did was of Panzer Dragoon Saga, so if you wanna watch me play the game that changed my life forever, you can see that here.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6Wc5_JYKZyO-ajcpFSPAHUVp1WhX7pwV


Final disclaimer, I wasn't paid for this post, they just very kindly reached out with the idea and it sounded like fun!

November Retro Haul

I've mentioned it a few times on this blog already but I have just moved into a new job and because of this the money I had last month was rather limited so I didn't have a lot of dosh to do retro shopping with.  I did do a little bit but not enough to warrant a video so the November retro haul will be done as a written post with a few pretty pictures.

The first game I purchased last month was Brain Lord on Super Famicom.  I have no idea wtf this is since, according to Wikipedia, it was never released in the EU.  I've not had a chance to play it yet but judging from a quick Google search and look at the back of the box it's some kind of action RPG that bears some similarities to Zelda.  Once I get round to playing I'll be sure to talk a little more about it but until then it'll just be another one of those obscure boxed games I bought for next to no money.

The second game I bought this month was Baroque on the Sega Saturn.  It was a little annoying to get this home and then remember that I hadn't changed the watch battery in the system so I can't fucking save.  Anyway Baroque is a rougelike for the Sega Saturn that was remade for the PS2 and Wii in 2008.  The idea is that each time you die various things change and you have to meet various conditions before each death in order to advance the plot.  It's an interesting game but a total pain in the arse to play in Japanese thanks to dialogue that's hard for even native Japanese speakers to understand.  It's one of those games I'm going to spend a long winter afternoon off work with slowly plodding through and translating all the weird shit.

I've never played Chocobo Mysterious Dungeon 2 so there isn't an awful lot I know about it.  I remember playing one quite a while ago on the Wii that was a rougelike but I'm not sure if this one is the same kind of thing.  The older Chocobo dungeon games have always interested me since as far as I know they weren't released in Europe and I've never really had a chance to play them. 


So that's it for this month and with Christmas right round the corner I don't think I'm going to have all that much money to do a lot of shopping in December either.  Once the holiday season is over though I'm going to be trawling the retro shops hard so expect some big hauls in the new year!

The Dumbing Down of Games

The dumbing down of games is something that I feel has been going on for a good while now.  However it's sort of difficult to point out exactly where.  I mean there's the general things that everyone knows about like regenerating health or some games not punishing you for dying whatsoever.  Recently I started playing Child of Light and I think this game really does hammer home just how dumbed down games have really become.

Just as a disclaimer I am enjoying Child of Light quite a bit actually.  I'm not too far in but it's definitely one of the more interesting RPGs I've played in recent memory.  However, the problem with Child of Light is that while I'm playing it there's one other game sitting at the back of my mind and gnawing away.

Every time I enter a fight in Child of Light, I keep thinking about fucking Grandia and just how much better that games combat was.

On a very basic level, Grandia and Child of Light have the same system. Check it out

At the bottom of both those screens there's a bar.  The bar is split up into a waiting part and an acting part.  Basic attacks are pretty quick but doing spells require some charge time and getting hit during that charge time may cause an interrupt.  This adds some strategy to timing attacks and such on your enemies to interrupt their shit while protecting your own casting characters so they can get their big moves off.

But here's where the dumbing down is, Grandia's combat had SO MUCH MORE than Child of Light.  In Grandia things like positioning, equipment, what magic to use and when, what skills to use and when, which characters are on interrupt duty and all sorts of other things were important.  While in Child of Light all that shit goes out the window and it's just a case of "hit them in the cast zone to interrupt" and combat becomes kind of monotonous as a result.

Not to mention that the number of enemies is different because it CoL it seems to be a max of 3 while in Grandia you could get absolute clusterfucks which had to be dealt with in a different way to smaller groups of enemies.  The choice of spells and skills was also much wider which gave much more room to create a strategy but in CoL I'm always doing the same fucking thing for guaranteed success.

Child of Light isn't a bad game by any stretch but it's such a shame because I was under the impression that as gaming grew as an entertainment medium it would get smarter, not dumber, so it's a shame to see a title do significantly less than a game from 1997.

Child of Light is just one example but it's a damn good one.  Another good example would be to compare any modern FPS title to Doom and fucking Doom will win out basically 100% of the time in pretty much all fields.

I'm not saying modern gaming is bad, it's just noticeably stupider and I don't like it. 

I Miss The Demo Disc

Maybe it's a case of thick nostalgia goggles but I fucking miss the shit out of demo discs.

Just in case younger people stumble on this page and have no idea what the fuck that thing is in the picture, let me explain.  Demo discs were these things that would come for free on the front of a magazine.  In the case of a lot of people I knew, they would buy the magazine FOR the demo disc.  We didn't really give two fucks what some prick in "Official Playstation Magazine" had to say about Metal Gear Solid or whatever, we just wanted to try the damn game.

I remember every month I'd get a copy of some kind of gaming magazine from Tesco or whatever, run home, throw the magazine aside and pop in that disc.  On these discs there would usually be a few playable demos for big games on the horizon and video trailers for other ones.

But the best demo disks were for PS1 and the Sega Saturn.  The PS1 discs were fairly standard demo-wise, but they came with this thing called Net Yaroze, which is something I have talked about previously on this blog.  There's even a playlist of a few Net Yaroze games that I've showcased.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6Wc5_JYKZyN2TxkKlGKlyrOSHtQqPSTz
I have been meaning to do more, just no time and stuff

Net Yaroze games were FULL FUCKING GAMES that came on these disks and I would spend hours and hours playing these things.  Some of them were pretty good and most of them were kind of shitty but at the time getting free games was a big deal and I'd play it anyway.

Saturn Demo Discs were also really good because I seem to remember them having an absolutely crazy amount of content on them for a demo.  I remember playing Saturn demos for hours just because they seemed to go on for so damn long.  The best demo disc I ever encountered was for the Saturn and it had only one game on it.

For those that don't know, Panzer Dragoon Saga was a 4 disc long RPG.  The Saturn Magazines idea of a demo disc for this game was providing the ENTIRE first disc (and probably the longest one) for absolutely nothing.  What made this even better is that when you did get the full game, you could just use your save from the demo and carry on, it was fucking amazing.

Now demos are all digital and I can't be fucked with them and most of the demos that I have been arsed enough to try out just suck ass.  Bring back the demo disc and maybe some half decent gaming journalism with it.

The Final Panzer Dragoon Saga Session

It's finished! Hooray! Today marks the end of my second full playthrough as part of this blog effort.  It's been a fun experience despite problems with recording software and editing software, I'm looking forward to doing more even if no one else is.

Don't forget, if you're enjoying the content, hit that link to JustGiving on the side and give a little something to the Alzheimer's Society.  None of the money comes anywhere close to me, it goes straight to them, so you don't have to worry about anything like that.

So kick back, grab a beverage and enjoy the final boss and ending sequence to Panzer Dragoon Saga!

VIDEOS

Mini Panzer Dragoon Update

Another busy weekend but this time I managed to get a little bit of recording done!  Although it ended up being a return trip to this games equivalent of the sewer level, so it ended up being a bit dull.

Anyway enjoy

Panzer Dragoon Saga Playthrough Session 7

Another session of this run, you all know the drill by now.  Disc 2 has been finished, so next time we'll be all up in disc 3.  Considering how long I thought this game was, I'm making pretty good time!

VIDEO!

Panzer Dragoon Saga Playthrough Session 6

In this part I got a game over, and I was rather sour about it.  I figured it out during my recording session I did this evening, which I will upload tomorrow or something.  I discovered that pressing the B button on the pad makes the enemy fire a shot that does 150 damage.  I've never seen or experienced this before, and it confused the shit out of me.  See how I got around it next time!

VIDEOS FOR NOW!

Panzer Dragoon Saga Session 5

Another session another section.  A little bit of confusion since I managed to forget how to solve the puzzles for a little while, but we pulled through in the end.  Big bosses, lots of gunship killing and a badass dragon dogfight.  Next time, the PDS equivalent of a sewer level

VIDEOS!

Panzer Dragoon Saga Session 4

More parts of the playthrough, I get lost for a while and talk about Total Recall, then I nearly die trying to find some ship parts.

Check that shit out!

Panzer Dragoon Saga Playthrough Session 3

Well, we did it folks, we got to the end of disc 1!  Although things are just getting started, with 3 more discs to go, this adventure is gonna get fucking crazy.  Lot's of cool battles and frustrating segments coming in disc 2, expect some rage

VIDEOS!

Saturn Month: Finale Buildup

Well, September is due to end real soon, and that means it will be the end of Saturn Month.  This is coming as a bit of a shame for me, because I didn't really do as much as I wanted, but just because Saturn month is over, doesn't mean I have to stop playing Saturn games, so you'll probably see some more stuff in the future anyway.

That said, I wanted to close out with something special, and that's Panzer Dragoon Saga.  Not only is this my personal favourite Saturn game, but it's also my personal favourite RPG ever, it really is that good.  But for now, I'm just going to leave it at that, because my plan isn't to do a 10-20 minute showcase like all the other videos, I'm going to do a full playthrough of this 4 disc beast. 

I'm hoping to start recording it on Sunday, so keep your eyes out for that, if you have never heard of this game, you're in for something truly special, watch this space.

In the mean time, have the opening cinematic, because I don't plan to be showing that when I start.

Three Dirty Dwarves (and more technical issues)

Well I WAS hoping to have a play through of this game to show you, but the technical bullshit behind this recording stuff is driving me insane.

The way I'm recording this stuff is by using an emulator because I don't have any way to lift footage off a console here in Japan, all my stuff for that kind of thing is in Sweden.   However, the software I am using to record the game play (FFSplit) makes the emulator look like complete ass and the whole thing is unwatchable.

So while I'm working on the issue, take a gander at the opening cinematic so you can get a feel for the game's story while I'm ironing out more problems.  The sad thing is that this 5 minute cartoon for this games opening is way better than most of the crap kids cartoons put out on TV today.  What a sad age we live in.

Thanks to whoever uploaded this video, getting any information on this game is actually turning out to be quite hard!

UPDATE:  Pretty much 10 minutes after making this post, I fixed the problem, the resolution is a little on the low side but the quality is alrite and the frame rate is good!  To be honest, considering I don't own a desktop due to travelling about so much, I'm glad I could get it to look the way it does.

I would record the play through now, but in my video testing sessions I'm playing like a man who has just had his thumbs cut off.  It's been a long day at work and I don't think I could do a good job of playing the game OR making the commentary interesting, so I'll do it in the morning when I'm nice and fresh!

That said I have a day off work and lots of time to make content, so maybe I'll do a little bonus something depending on how I feel to make up for lost time

Now That's Some Bullshit #8: Sega Saturn Battery

Due to some problems with my ability to stream it's a bullshit double bill today!  Although this round of bullshit is Saturn related so that it fits in with Saturn Month.

The Sega Saturn had quite a weird set of internals.  For example the thing had dual CPU's, and while this has a load of technical implications that I don't understand because I'm not a developer, what I do understand is it basically made the whole system a gigantic pain in the ass to develop games for.

But the people making the games were not the only ones who had to deal with strange shit going on inside the Saturn.  If you look at the above picture, you can see a little space where a battery goes in.  This was the battery backup system for the Saturn and whenever you saved a game, it would save here. 

Now it's not battery backups that are bullshit, but it's the fact that this thing isn't really mentioned inside the system manual (which most people don't fucking read anyway) and there is no indication for when the power is low and you have to replace it, it's a load of ass.

I mean, I got the Saturn when I was a kid, I didn't know how the fuck it was saving my games and my parents knew jack shit about gaming systems, so they weren't aware of it either.  It wasn't until a couple of years ago when I hooked up my old Saturn and played Panzer Dragoon Saga for about 4 hours that I discovered what to do.  I saved the game, which worked just fine, but when I returned the save had been erased because the battery inside the fucking thing had died.

Plus it was one of those really awkward flat batteries that were quite hard to get hold of in the area where I lived in the UK.  Most shops didn't stock anything outside of AA and AAA batteries.

So, if after Saturn Month you decide to go grab one at a flea market or off E-Bay or something, either get that cartridge saving thing that I could never find, or replace the damn battery! 

You have been warned!

The Sega Saturn!

Today we're going to talk about something I have very fond memories of, the Sega Saturn.  Holy fuck was this console AWESOME!

I don't remember how old I was when I first got my Saturn, but I was still pretty young.  All I remember is that I was going back home in the car with my family from....somewhere, and my dad just decided to randomly stop in an electronics store and pick one of these bad boys up.  I mean I was young and stupid at the time, I didn't have a fucking clue what it was until I got home and popped in Fighting Vipers!

This was probably the first game I ever played that was 3D and it blew my fucking mind.  You may think that this title has been long since forgotten and no one gives a shit but you'd be fucking WRONG!! If you've played Soul Calibur 4 (not sure if it's in 5) then then whole system where you could break off bits of armour, this is the game which did it first.  Hell, the game even had a feature to save your goddamn replays before anyone even gave a fucking about that kind of thing.

Despite all the fond memories of that game though, the Saturn is home to my personal favourite video game EVER! Which is Panzer Dragoon Saga

This game was fucking HUGE, it came on 4 discs and has one of the most interesting game worlds I think I've ever seen.  For anyone who doesn't know, Panzer Dragoon is a series of arcade type shooting games where you fly a dragon, but this game was an RPG spin off.  This game was so fucking good that a couple years later when I played Final Fantasy VII for the first time, I was disappointed with it because I didn't feel it stacked up to PDS.

The rest of it's library was pretty stellar too, things like NiGHTS and Die Hard Arcade just to name a couple kept me occupied for fucking hours although it did have a couple of crap games too, but what console doesn't, right? The Saturn was basically the point for me when gaming became more than just a thing to do to kill time, it became a full blown hobby, or passion, or whatever you want to call it.

It wasn't all wonderful though, the Saturn had some really awkward hardware so emulating it is a real bitch, and the console itself had a battery backup to save games, so if you don't replace that little bastard then your save games will delete themselves when you turn off the machine.

The last thing I want to say is that it had one of the best advertising campaigns I've ever seen in Japan, take a look.

Segata Sanshiro is a fucking bad ass, no wonder it did so well in Japan.  Shame that in the EU, it came out so close to the PS1 launch that no one gave a shit.  Oh well...

So to finish this post I want to announce Sega Saturn September!  Starting from September 1st, I'm going to make some kind of Saturn related post every day, so you may be seeing 2 or 3 posts daily during this month while I blog about other stuff as well.  Also, providing I can get the stream to work, I'll be streaming Saturn games whenever I have free time, I'll provide the link once it's set up.  So I hope you're ready to be educated on one of the best gaming machines EVER!